I'm a little late this week - figured I'd give y'all some extra time since posting issues delayed last week's chapter.

I will fully confess that I'm one of these people who likes to beat up on my favorites. So, was this chapter an excuse for some shameless Lucy whump? You betcha! XD

- K. Chandler


She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe!

The pull of consciousness was not a pleasant one.

Lucy gasped, clawing at her chest with a shaking hand. It hurt. She could feel the staccato thudding of her heart beneath her fingers, like a horse's gallop.

Where was she? What was happening?

The world spun nauseatingly. She pinched her eyes shut, trying not to throw up.

Why did she feel so awful?

Why couldn't she catch her breath?

It was like an invisible hand was kneading her insides. Like her organs were being tied in knots. It hurt.

Still couldn't breathe!

Help…

Lucy forced her eyes open again, trying to ignore the vertigo that threatened to pull her back under.

Door. She needed… to get…

She tried to get up. Tried to make it. Her leaden legs wouldn't obey. Her hands were autumn leaves, trembling as she reached out, fingers twitching. Lucy's hands dropped limply to her sides, still trembling of their own accord. She couldn't control her limbs!

She couldn't breathe…

The back of her throat burned, and she needed to cough. But she just couldn't. She couldn't get enough air.

She was suffocating.

Help. Somebody. Please…

A dark haze started to push on the edges of her vision.

Was she going to die?

Oh, please. Please, no… She was too young for that.

Natsu. Natsu… Natsu!

There was a knock at the door. Was it Natsu?

That was silly. Natsu wasn't here.

"Hey, Lucy?"

Gray! The familiar voice sent Lucy's racing heart into double-time. She had forgotten that he was coming.

"I'm all done for the day. Sorry, it took longer to finish up than I thought. Did you still want to go to the festival?"

She had never been so grateful that Gray had delayed their plans. She didn't know what would have happened if he hadn't come to find her.

She opened her mouth to reply, but the only thing that came out was a choked moan that trailed off in a pathetic whimper.

She tried again. She had to make Gray hear her.


Gray knocked on the door again. Why wasn't Lucy answering?

Maybe she decided to take a nap?

Gray turned to the guard that was posted in this hall. "Has it been this quiet all afternoon?"

"Yes, sir, highness. Nothing out of the ordinary to report."

Frowning, Gray pressed an ear to the door. He almost didn't hear the voice coming from the other side of the door.

"…G-Gray…" came the strangled-sounding cry.

Gray's eyes widened. Either he was crazy and hearing things, or Lucy was in trouble. He had never wished so fervently to be crazy.

"Lucy!"

Gray didn't bother asking the guard to unlock the door. He traced the key's shape with his fingers, picturing it in his mind's eye as he channeled his ice magic.

There used to be a master key that would unlock any room in the palace. Gray had destroyed the only copy of that key for safety… This was his palace, and no door would bar him.

A perfect replica of the key appeared at his fingertips. With it, he let himself in.

What was that smell?

Gray was accosted by an overpowering stench of florals. Lucy wasn't normally so heavy-handed with her perfume. Today it smelled like she had tried to take a bath in it.

"Lucy?!" Gray rushed over.

Lucy was in bed, pale as bone against the covers. Every hard-fought gasp racked her entire frame.

"What happened?" Gray asked.

"Don'… know…" she wheezed, looking as if it was all she could to mouth those two syllables.

"All right. Let's get you out of here."

Gray scooped up Lucy's trembling frame. He could feel the uncontrollable shaking of her hands as she tightened her fingers on the front of Gray's shirt.

He needed to get her somewhere else. Somewhere safe.

"Highness?" Erza asked, as Gray carried Lucy into the hall. "What—" Her eyes widened as she assessed the situation. "This one's empty," Erza said indicating the adjacent bedroom.

"The Glacier Chamber would be better," Gray said.

Gray carried Lucy down the hall, moving as fast he could without causing her further discomfort. He wasn't sure what was happening, but it was wisest to get Lucy to a different part of the castle.

Erza ran ahead, opening the door for them.

"Gr…ay…" Lucy whimpered.

"I've got you. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere," Gray said, crouching down next to her.

Lucy made a small noise in the back of her throat that sounded like a sob. Her face had taken on a worryingly waxy cast. But hopefully, now that she was in fresher air, she would recover.

"Erza, windows—" Gray started, trailing off when he realized that she wasn't even in the room. But before he could react to that, Erza rushed back into the room. "Where have you been?" he asked.

Erza held up the journal they used to document Gray's reactions to various poisons. "I couldn't remember us having tried anything like this off hand, but I thought we should confirm it."

"Good thinking," Gray said. "Have we seen anything like this before?"

Erza leaved through the journal.

"…Any time now, Erza."

"Give me something to work with. Symptoms?" Erza prompted.

"Can you tell us what's wrong?" Gray prompted Lucy softly.

"H-hurts…" she whimpered, her trembling fist pressing against her chest. "Can't… can't… bre—" Lucy trailed off, her eyelids fluttering.

Gray could see how much the effort to speak was costing her. He'd have to figure this one out on his own.

"Shh, shh. It's okay," Gray said, smoothing her hair. "Just stay with us, okay?"

Lucy gave the slightest nod. She was still gulping air like a fish, her chest heaving.

Gray tried to imagine how he would describe it if the symptoms were his own. Tried to imagine what he would report for Erza to document.

Gray pressed the back of his hand to the side of Lucy's face before sliding it down to the pulse point at her neck. He cringed. "She's a little warm. Sweaty. And her heart is going crazy fast. The rhythm's not even, so I can't even get a count."

"I don't see anything…" Erza said, leafing through the book. "This is like nothing that you've ever tested."

"What about respiratory symptoms? Difficulty breathing? Sort of a wheezing rattle."

Erza shook her head.

"There's got to be something there. I was in the room for a good minute, but I feel fine. I've got some sort of immunity." Gray insisted.

"Gray, I'm looking. I don't see anything," Erza repeated.

"Well, look harder!" he snapped. Gray knew he wasn't being fair. It wasn't Erza's fault. "Sorry…"

He hated feeling so helpless.

"…Sit her up," Erza suggested. "Being upright has helps you."

Gray settled onto the bed before scooping Lucy into his lap. He propped her up against him. Her head lolled against his neck.

"Stay with us, Lucy," said Gray, tapping her cheek. "C'mon. You can do this. Breathe with me. Yeah? Nice and slow." He inhaled slowly so she could feel it. He held it for a count before letting the air go again.

He could feel the futile efforts of Lucy's own chest as she tried to match the rhythm of Gray's breathing.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

"You're doing good," he told her. "You're doing so good."

This wasn't good at all.

Gray felt so helpless. He had thought that Isvan was the safest place for her. Was he wrong? He was, wasn't he? This was his fault, wasn't it?

It happened on his watch. He allowed it to happen. He'd been careless. And now the only thing he could do was coach Lucy through breathing exercises like a midwife.

No, there was one thing that he could still help with…

"We need to figure out who did this," Gray said. "We can't let them get away."

Erza nodded. "I'll have the room turned out to look for anything suspicious. Cana can ask around town. I'll report back shortly."

"Have Lyon help when you investigate Lucy's room. I'd feel better if you weren't alone," Gray said. "And Erza? Make sure everyone's careful. We don't need a second victim tonight."

"Of course."

With the situation in Erza's capable hands, Gray's mind could be at ease. He could focus on what was most important right now. Lucy.

Gray rocked Lucy back and forth, smoothing the top of her head.

"You're okay. You're okay," he repeated. "You're doing good, Lucy. Just keep breathing."

Somehow the words didn't feel like they were enough. Lucy looked like she was suffering so much, but there was nothing he could do for her.

All he could do now was hope for the best. Hope that her symptoms would start to ease. Hope that she'd start breathing on her own. Hope that she'd make it through the night.

Hope wasn't a strategy! It was a sorry excuse for people sitting on their hands, unable to do anything.

As the hours dragged on, Gray could tell that Lucy's breathing wasn't getting any better. If anything, it was getting worse.

Lucy's face had gone from waxy to ashen. Lucy's hands were cold and stiff, her fingers the same ominous purpled tinge as her lips.

"Come on, Lucy. Stay with me." Gray jostled her gently, trying to rouse her. "You can't go to sleep."

"How is she?" Erza asked, stopping by for her third check in.

Gray shook his head. "I don't know what happened!"

"Pulse?" Erza prompted.

Gray pressed two fingers against Lucy's wrist. "Thready. But still there. And she's barely breathing." Gray couldn't even feel the muscles in her torso trying to move under his hands anymore. They had tightened into random spasms, useless for drawing breath. "She's not getting any air. What do I do?"

Erza shook her head, at a loss. "I'm not sure."

"If it were me? What would you do if I was the one in Lucy's place?" Gray pressed.

"I told you. Normally, just sitting you up is enough. Sometimes I lean you forwards just a little."

With nothing to lose, Gray tilted Lucy's torso forwards. He felt the rush of air leaving her body as he repositioned her. But if she couldn't breathe on her own, how was this supposed to help? He pulled her back up, feeling her chest expand as he did so.

Gray's eyes widened. This was almost like breathing, wasn't it?

Instead of tipping her forwards again, Gray tightened his arms around Lucy, pressing against her ribs. He squeezed hard, feeling the whoosh of air as it left her chest. Then he rocked her backwards slightly, letting the movement extend the muscles in her chest so air could fill her expanded lungs.

He repeated the sequence again, in time with his own breathing.

Push.

Pull.

Push.

Pull.

"I think it's working," Erza said. "She's coming to."

"Na… su…" Lucy whispered, her eyelids fluttering open.

"Sorry. It's just Gray," he said.

Push.

Pull.

Push.

Pull.

"You still with us?" Gray asked.

".. yes." Lucy's voice was still weak and breathy, but no longer fogged by pain and panic.

"Good," Gray said. "You're doing good, Lucy. Just keep breathing. Stay with me. Don't go to sleep."

Lucy nodded. "'M awake," she whispered.

"Good. That's good."

Push.

Pull.

Push.

Pull.

"…sorry. I shouldn't have…" Lucy sighed, so softly that Gray almost didn't hear her.

"This isn't your fault," Gray said.

Push.

Pull.

Push.

Pull.

Gray didn't know how much longer he'd have to do this. His own muscles were growing weary from trying to substitute for hers. But he couldn't stop.

Push.

Pull.

Push.

Pull.

He couldn't stop.

He was the only thing keeping her alive.


Yikes... I personally believe that being in trouble and not being able to call for help like that would be the scariest thing in the world, so I tried to draw on that here with Lucy. I hope that you can feel her anguish. As for Gray... he's probably living his worst nightmare right now.

My biggest regret with this scene is that we didn't get any Natsu, though you can see how badly Lucy wants him there. But I figured that it would be okay to strand Gray here for a couple of reasons. First, guess who's going to be super-triggered by this? Yep. Juvia. And you can bet she's going to retaliate, so more fun is on the way.

Second, guess who's going to be absolutely ballistic about what happened to Lucy? Natsu will have his say. And he'll get his Lucy moment, rest assured Nalu fans. Bear with me; this is all build up.

To wrap up, time for a fact check. What Gray does to keep Lucy breathing is a mostly real thing. It's based on two different methods of artificial respiration that were common until the early twentieth century. Of course, there are reasons why modern CPR has replaced these, so I wouldn't recommend actually using them. The poison here has some roots in reality as well. It's not a particularly common one, so I don't even remember exactly what I picked.

Next time, in Toxic, Gray's and Erza have a talk: "You can't think that way," Erza said. "You can't keep blaming yourself for everything that happens around you."

Stop back next Monday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.